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Definition
| a group of various species that live in the same habitat and interact with each other |
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| a community of organisms and their abiotic environment |
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| the place where an organism usually lives |
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| the variety of organisms in a given area, the genetic variation within a population, the variety of species in a community, or the variety of communities in an ecosystem |
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| the replacement of one type of community by another at a single location over a period of time |
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| the average weather conditions in an area over a long period of time |
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| a large region characterized by a specific type of climate and certain types of plant and animal communities |
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| a group of organisms of the same species that live in a specific geographical area |
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| the largest population that an environment can support at any given time |
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| an organism that can make organic molecules from inorganic molecules; a photosynthetic or chemosynthetic autotroph that serves as the basic food source in an ecosystem |
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| an organism that eats other organisms or organic matter instead of producing its own nutrients or obtaining nutrients from inorganic sources |
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| an organism that feeds by breaking down organic matter from dead organisms; examples include bacteria and fungi |
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| one of the steps in a food chain or food pyramid; examples include producers and primary, secondary, and tertiary consumers |
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| a triangular diagram that shows an ecosystem's loss of energy, which results as energy passes through the ecosystem's food chain; each row in the pyramid represents a trophic (feeding) level in an ecosystem, and the area of a row represents the energy stored in that trophic level v |
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Definition
| the movement of carbon from the nonliving environment into living things and back |
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| the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide between living cells and their environment; includes breathing and cellular respiration |
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Definition
| the cycling of nitrogen between organisms, soil, water, and the atmosphere |
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| the cyclic movement of phosphorus in different chemical forms from the environment to organisms and then back to the environment |
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| the unique position occupied by a species, both in terms of its physical use of its habitat and its function within an ecological community |
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| the largest ecological niche where an organism or species can live without competition |
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| the range of resources that a species uses, the conditions that the species can tolerate, and the functional roles that the species plays as a result of competition in the species' fundamental niche |
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| the exclusion of one species by another due to competition |
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| a species that is critical to the functioning of the ecosystem in which it lives because it affects the survival and abundance of many other species in its community |
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| a nonrenewable energy resource formed from the remains of organisms that lived long ago; examples include oil, coal, and natural gas |
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| precipitation that has a pH below normal and has an unusually high concentration of sulfuric or nitric acids, often as a result of chemical pollution of the air from sources such as automobile exhausts and the burning of fossil fuels |
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| a gradual increase in average global temperature |
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| the warming of the surface and lower atmosphere of Earth that occurs when carbon dioxide, water vapor, and other gases in the air absorb and reradiate infrared radiation |
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| a process in which the materials of Earth's surface are loosened, dissolved, or worn away and transported from one place to another by a natural agent, such as wind, water, ice, or gravity |
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| the process of clearing forests |
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Definition
| the variety of organisms in a given area, the genetic variation within a population, the variety of species in a community, or the variety of communities in an ecosystem |
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| the death of every member of a species |
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| the process of recovering valuable or useful materials from waste or scrap; the process of reusing some items |
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Definition
| a form of tourism that supports the conservation and sustainable development of ecologically unique areas |
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